Kern County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Kern County.
Technology presence
What these categories mean
- ALPR
- Automated license plate readers (ALPR): camera systems that automatically capture, read, and log vehicle license plates with location and time, producing a searchable record of vehicle movements.
- Fixed cameras & RTCC
- Agency-operated fixed video cameras and the real-time crime centers (RTCC) that aggregate live and recorded feeds for monitoring. Extends the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas, which enumerates real-time crime centers and camera registries but not standalone fixed-camera estates.
- Face recognition
- Software that matches faces in images or video against a reference database to identify or verify individuals.
- Drones / UAS
- Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones, operated by an agency for overhead observation, imaging, or sensing.
- Gunshot detection
- Networks of acoustic sensors that detect and locate suspected gunfire and alert an agency.
- Body-worn & dashcam
- Officer body-worn and in-vehicle dashboard cameras that record encounters; public access to the footage is frequently restricted.
- Doorbell & camera registry
- Programs that give an agency access to privately owned camera footage: doorbell-camera partnerships, citizen camera registries, and private-camera integration platforms.
- Cell-site simulators
- Devices that mimic cell towers to locate or identify nearby mobile phones. They are often called Stingrays, or IMSI catchers after the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number that identifies each phone on a network. Adjacent: communications surveillance outside the visual/sensor core.
- Predictive policing
- Software that forecasts where crime may occur or who may be involved, to direct policing. Adjacent: analytics rather than a sensing deployment.
- Social-media monitoring
- Tools that collect and analyze public social-media activity for an agency. Adjacent: open-source/communications monitoring outside the visual/sensor core.
The record, by agency
Shafter Police Department
The Shafter Police Department installed 25 Flock Safety automated license plate readers in 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Wasco TribuneThe Shafter Press
Kern County Sheriff's Department
As of April 2024, the Kern County Sheriff's Office operates 30 Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The agency stores ALPR data for 30 days.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Flock SafetyThe News & ObserverThe News & Observer
The Kern County Sheriff's Office had 13 drones in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Kern County Sheriff's OfficeCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.faa.gov
The Kern County Sheriff's Office received $135,000 in funding in 2017 from DOJ's Office of Justice Programs to implement a body-worn camera program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Bakersfield NowDept. of Justice, Dept. Justice Assistance, Office of Justice ProgramsKGET
The Kern County Sheriff's Office operates a cell-site simulator
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Kern County SheriffCEHRP
The Kern County Sheriff's Office maintains a voluntary registry of private and personal surveillance cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Kern County Sheriff's Office
Ridgecrest Police Department
The Ridgecrest Police Department received authorization to install 24 Flock Safety automated license plate readers in February 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Ridgecrest Daily-IndependentRidgecrest City CouncilRidgecrest City Council
Delano Police Department
The Delano Police Department operated drones as of 2024.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): KERO-TVCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.cityofdelano.org
The Delano Police Department received funding from California's Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program in 2023 for 25 Flock Safety automated license plate readers
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): California Board of State and Community CorrectionsCalifornia Board of State and Community Corrections
City of Wasco Police Department
The City of Wasco Police Department received a Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera Program grant for $30,000 for 15 body-worn cameras in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Justice & Security StrategiesJustice & Security Strategies
Bakersfield Police Department
The Bakersfield Police Department operates automated license plate readers. In 2021, the agency purchased 21 Flock Safety ALPRs. In 2023, the agency signed a $308,700, three-year contract with Flock Safety for 37 new ALPRs.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Bakersfield.comBakersfield NowBoard of State and Community Corrections
The Bakersfield Police Department operated 28 drones as of 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): City of BakersfieldCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.MuckRock.com
The Bakersfield Police Department received funding to outfit all police officers with Axon body-worn cameras by spring 2020.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): BakersfieldKGET.com
Bakersfield Police Department has been using Shotspotter gunshot detection technology since March 2018. The initial two-year contract was paid for with a $450,000 Project Safe Neighborhood Grant,.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Eyewitness NewsBakersfield Police DepartmentFOX Bakersfield Now
Taft Police Department
The Taft Police Department uses body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Taft Police Department policy manual
Tehachapi Police Department
The Tehachapi Police Department uses body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Tehachapi Police Department
California State University, Bakersfield Police Department
California State University, Bakersfield Police Department began wearing body-worn cameras on July 1, 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): California State University, Bakersfield Police DepartmentKGETCalifornia State University Chancellor's Report
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026